Inside Out Outdoors

 I set off October 11th for Raleigh to hunt the NC Eastern Zone with my muzzleloader.  I got a taste of it when I hunted the morning of the 9th in the Western Zone up at South Mountains Gamelands in Rutherford County and was ready to get to a more familiar place with a better deer population.  I had made up my mind the night before that I would hunt where I shot a 9 point on Butner-Falls of Nuese Gamelands back in 2009 so when I saw a small buck laying in the ditch not far from the parking area I knew they had been moving and felt good about my chances.

Nature can be cruel and it is indeed a dog-eat-dog world out in the wilds.  Unfortunately for Barred Owls now, the function known as survival of the fittest is about to not be left up to their species but instead to the US Government.  In the hunting regulated society we have grown up in (which is a good thing considering how things used to be) it has been drilled into our heads that birds of prey are not to be messed with, toting jail time and big fines if you happen to shoot one.  Leave it to government officials to take it upon themselves to do away with this stipulation when it comes to trying to bring back the Spotted Owl. 

Their proposal as touched on here in Outdoor Life has a component in it to selectively harvest Barred Owls because of the impact they have on Spotted Owls.  I know it may seem hypocritical to be upset about the above proposal while yelling at the top of my lungs that hunters need to be utilized as a natural predator in the control of wildlife populations as well as pat ourselves on the back for the role we play in bringing back populations from the brink with sound wildlife management and the monies from us used to support such management plans.  And I know that controlling predator populations is also needed in order to insure a proper balance in the predator-prey ratio.  The difference in this, in my opinion, is that we are talking about two predators who directly compete for food and resources, using the same, solitary hunting style while utilizing the same habitat.  Is hunting one to save the other needed in this situation or would helping to identify and protect as much suitable habitat be the bigger help?  I tend to lean towards the latter as you'll always have that competition between species even with a decrease in the larger population.  And whose to say that selective hunting of the Barred Owl doesn't put us right back in this situation years down the road, with the Spotted Owl population needing to be reduced to help the Barred Owl. 

This is a flawed policy proposal in my opinion as we should control what we directly can, i.e. habitat conservation, to save the Spotted Owl instead of relying on the removal of another native, competing species.  Agree?  Disagree?  Have another idea on helping the Spotted Owl regain population?  Let it all come out by leaving a comment!

-C.B.